By PTI
CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday said he has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the recent change in rules for the selection of Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) members.
Speaking in the state assembly, Khattar also said that he will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue when he meets him.
“…When the decision was taken, I wrote to Union home minister (Amit Shah) that Haryana has an objection and even Punjab is objecting,” Khattar told the assembly.
Khattar said the state will present its stand strongly.
“I will also tell MPs from the state to take up the issue (with Centre),” he said while replying to the debate on the governor’s address during the ongoing budget session of the state assembly.
The BBMB, which is a statutory body under the Punjab Reorganisation Act-1966 and manages the water resources of Sutlej and Beas, has a whole-time chairman and two members of irrigation and power.
According to convention, the member (power) is always from Punjab and the member (irrigation) is from Haryana.
But now, the change in rules for selection allows anyone to apply for these posts and several political leaders in Punjab and opposition leaders from Haryana are opposing the move.
Khattar said his government has verbally conveyed to the Centre that there can be three members on the board if it was felt that Rajasthan should have better representation.
In the BBMB, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to some extent are the stakeholder states, he said.
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda had recently objected to the Centre “amending” the rules which govern the appointment of the BBMB members from Punjab and Haryana.
Hooda, who is the Leader of Opposition in Haryana, had termed it an attack on the rights of the state.
“All political parties of Punjab, including the Congress, are unanimous and raising their voice against this decision to protect the interest of the state. In such a situation, the Haryana government, along with all the parties, should oppose this decision and protect the rights of the state,” Hooda had said earlier.
Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala had also said by ending the representation of Haryana and Punjab in the BBMB, the Modi government had once again “crushed” the rights of Haryana and Punjab.
“This is a direct attack on the federal structure and the rights of the states,” Surjewala had said.
On Sunday, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had sought time from Shah to discuss the matter with him.
